Many optical fiber systems today require splicing of optical fiber segments. Such splicing is conventionally achieved in many ways, such as using mechanical splices or fusion splices.
When manufacturing a fusion splice, it is important that the two fiber ends that are to be fused together are precisely aligned with each other. Although in practice some misalignment cannot always be avoided, any significant misalignment may cause an unacceptably high optical loss to be provided by the splice. Further optical loss and other defects may also be incurred due to other problems with the manufacturing of a fusion splice, such as an incorrect fusing temperature, an incorrect duration of the fusion, and an unclean work area where the splice is made (e.g., foreign particles from the air that are absorbed into the fused area may increase the optical loss).
Once a splice is manufactured and installed in an optical fiber system (e.g., an optical fiber network), it may be desirable to know certain information about the splice, such as the optical loss produced by the splice, the cleave angle of the splice, and generally the quality of the splice and other manufacturing-related information. It would be desirable to have access to such information in order to provide accountability as to the source of a particular splice and/or as to the cause of a possible defect in a particular splice. Such accountability would reduce the cost and time required to discover specific problems with a manufacturing process and/or installation process and to reduce or eliminate such problems. Such accountability of splice source and quality would also be useful since splice operators are often rated on the quality of splices that the operators manufacture.
Unfortunately, there are not presently available any methods or apparatus for collecting and storing information associated with splices (splice data), or for providing access to splice data, in order to determine particular splice characteristics and to trace back the source of the manufactured splice. Should a splicer operator not perform his or her job properly, or should an otherwise acceptable splice be later sabotaged or otherwise damaged, there is presently no satisfactory way to determine the manufacturing source of the splice, or whether a particular splice was manufactured properly but was later sabotaged or damaged after the manufacturing process. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for providing accountability as to the manufacturing source and quality of individual splices.
One reason that no such systems presently exist is that splices currently are not uniquely identifiable. In other words, splices currently are not associated with a unique identifier or indicium (such as a serial number). Although some optical fiber cables have been uniquely identified, splices are not. However, without providing unique identification of splices, it would be nearly impossible to store splice data in such a way as to provide the desired accountability discussed above. Accordingly, there is a need for the unique identification of splices.